A Communications College's Social Communication Report Card

Being a student attending Emerson College, a communications and liberal arts school, it's interesting to take a look at how the school itself is communicating, especially in the realm of social media. By examining the school, we can learn from what they have been up to, or what they haven't done in their social media space.

While it seems that Emerson's students have adopted social media readily, the college appears lagging behind. The Emerson College Twitter (@emersoncollege) has not been utilized at all. It is encouraging that Emerson created a Twitter account, and personalized it with a bio and wallpaper, which are elements that should be considered when making a Twitter account. It shows that they did put some consideration into it. They even have somehow amassed 500 followers. However, these considerations a made useless by the quite obvious fact that Emerson has not updated their Twitter once. Not a single tweet is on their homepage. It may be that they never took is seriously enough to make a plan for how it would be used, or never appointed someone to maintain it. There are enough uses for it, such as emergency announcements, or updates concerning events, changes in the school schedule, or even flu related updates, yet @emersoncollege lays dormant.


So after a look at Emerson's lackluster effort on the Twitter front, let's take a look at what they've been up to with Facebook page. The first thing you'll notice is that the Facebook page, unlike the Twitter page, is actually getting some use. News updates appear several times a day, and those stories are being commented on. It's great that they're supplying content to their wall. However, not all is right. Many of the comments have questions pertaining to the news, and none of them are being answered. There is no interaction. While the page is getting use, it's being treated like an RSS feed for events and news, not a source of interaction with the college. Interaction would greatly improve their page, and would give the college a voice. The Facebook page would be a great place for Emerson to show its very different personality, through hosting videos of student projects and productions. It isn't limited to the Wall.

Emerson's Iwasaki Library Blog has the right idea. The blog is updated with an assortment of topics, ranging from responses to suggestions, reference picks of the week, as well as updates concerning to the library. There is no media used though, so it has a very boring appearance. It could be spiced up with a few pictures.